SUSTAINABILITY SPECIAL..... Closed loops for plastics: key to sustainable growth

Closed loops for plastics: key to sustainable growth

Managing the growing volumes of plastics waste is today a grim challenge for planners in the developed and developing world – India being no exception. With demand for plastics set to rise, given the versatility of these materials, there will be greater need to collect, reuse and recycle them. Though the recycling industry is fairly well-established in India, and a considerable volume of plastics are put to re-use, much more needs to be done to ramp up the scale of operations and the quality of recycled goods. Else the deplorable conditions of our plastics-strewn streets, rivers, canals, beaches and oceans will only get worse.

Packaging – largest outlet & biggest headache

Of particular concern is the fate of packaging, the largest application area for plastics almost everywhere in the world. In Europe, for instance, packaging accounts for close to 40% of the 49-mt of plastics consumed in 2015 – not surprising considering their versatility and superior performance compared to traditional materials such as paper, metal and glass.

Plastic packaging comes in several forms – from thin-walled carry bags, to stand-up pouches; and from multi-layer composites made from several materials (including plastic, paper and metal) to homogenous polymers. By its very nature packaging is transient – serving its purpose from the point of manufacture or sale of an item, in a factory setting or in a retail outlet, to the point of consumption at the hands of an industrial or individual consumer. Simply sending used packaging to landfill at the end of their brief useful life is no longer an option for economic and ecological reasons

Reduce, reuse and recycle

The well-known mantra when it comes to plastics is ‘reduce, reuse and recycle.’ Today, plastic packaging is being designed to use the bare minimum of raw material (resin) to achieve the needed performance. A common example of this is the PET bottle used to package drinking water: downsizing of its thickness is something we have all experienced, though it does have limits (that have more or less been reached). Sometimes this virtue is a villain – as exemplified by thin-walled carry-bags that have come to represent all plastics waste to the common man. These products continue to sneak into the markets despite bans in several parts of the country, as their poor economic value offers no incentive to recycle.

The downsizing has at times been made possible for innovations in resin manufacturing technology, clever compounding and by use of special additives. In polyolefins, for instance, new catalysts, such as metallocenes, make it possible to make resins that can be formed into thin films with outstanding strength and other barrier properties.

Reuse and recycle are somewhat related and the extent to which these happen vary from polymer to polymer due technological and cost considerations. PET, for example, is eminently recyclable, as are polyolefins such as polyethylene and polypropylene. Chlorinated polymers such as PVC are more of a technological challenge, as are the styrenics, but considerable progress has been made in recent years in recycling them as well.

Recycling usually involves a trade-down in specifications and recycled materials are typically used for less demanding applications. Often, the idea is to lock-in the polymer in long-use applications of which there are several. When all fails there is always the option of recycling for energy. Polyolefins, in particular, are well suited to this, as they are mostly hydrocarbons (ignoring the additives used therein) that can be turned into a bio-oil under anaerobic conditions or directly into thermal energy.

There is a significant PET recycling industry in the country, which has even resorted to imports of waste bottles to meet its raw material needs. The main product is polyester fibre and fill, which goes into several applications, but higher quality products including recycled food-grade resins are now possible.

Challenge to recycling

One challenge to recycling comes from the several additives used to make processing of the virgin resin easier or to enhance performance or stability of the derived articles. A diverse range of chemicals are used in compounds – fillers, reinforcing agents, fire-retardants, plasticisers, clarifiers, to name a few – and they do complicate recycling. To work around this limitation there are now concerted efforts to look afresh at the additives used, and to evaluate their impacts on recycling, prior to their introduction into the market.

While post-consumer products made of pure polymers lend themselves well to reprocessing, composite products consisting of two or more raw materials are, in most cases, unsuitable.

Consumer-led initiatives

Large corporations that have the ability to move the needle significantly are perturbed about this issue and several have set deadlines for increasing the share of recycled or renewable plastics in their packaging, and even outlined plans for using alternate materials. Unilever, for instance, has committed itself to using fully recyclable, reusable or compostable plastics for all its packaging needs by 2025. Coca-Cola has, in a largely symbolic gesture, launched a variation of the conventional PET bottle that is based on one renewable raw material (monoethylene glycol) that gives the bottle about 30% renewables content. In the UK, food retailer, Iceland, has gone one step further and announced plans to eliminate or drastically reduce use of plastic packaging in all its own brand products in another five years (though it is clear how it plans to go about this).

Growing backlash in India

In India the backlash against plastics packaging seems to be growing and a disproportionate response – such as a ban on all kinds of plastic packaging – is not in the realm of the impossible. Bans on thin-wall carry bags are being extended to even their thicker avatars; and Maharashtra is considering banning use of flexible PVC for making hoardings and the like. Waste management rules are now being framed that will require FMCG manufacturers, for instance, to take responsibility for recycling as much plastic waste as they put out into the market.

All of these will change the way consuming industries perceive and use plastics.

Be part of the solution, not just the problem

India is still lacking in systematic collection and sorting outfits that feed into recycling facilities.

The plastics industry, and especially the resin manufacturers, needs to be a big part of the solution, not just the problem. They have a moral responsibility, the financial resources and the technological capabilities to fund and drive large projects such as comprehensive recycling schemes. These efforts should be taken up, for example, by bodies such as the Plastindia Foundation, a federation of industry associations that has representation from all stakeholders. Government support, through the right policy and fiscal means, will be vital to make these ventures profitable and sustainable initiatives.

Strategy in Europe

Some lessons can be learnt from a new strategy outlined by the European Commission just recently on January 16. As per this, all plastic packaging in the EU market will be recyclable by 2030 and 55% of plastic packaging should be recycled. PlasticsEurope, the trade association for the region’s plastics industry, is eyeing an even more ambitious 60% recycling level by 2030, but believes the first target is a stiff one that is unlikely to be met. The EU’s plans also call for a reduction in ‘single-use’ plastics – such as carry bags: to 90 bags per person per year in 2019 and 40 by 2026. It also calls for curbs on the intentional use of microplastics – such as beads used as abrasives in cosmetics.

There are to be policy measures that will also incentivise recycling efforts by businesses, and support to innovation efforts aimed at meeting these goals.

A young industry that must rise to the challenge

Although recycling is a much-discussed topic today and is also very much alive in many projects in the plastics industry, by comparison with other sectors, too little waste material is used instead of virgin material. Across Europe, 50% of metal scrap is returned to steelmaking, and the same applies to the paper industry, where 50% of old paper and board is used in the production of new paper and board. For glass, at 33%, the figure is a little lower, but still high compared to the quantities recycled in the plastics sector. The comparative numbers in other parts of the world are not that different.

While the plastics industry is much younger than those producing other materials its blistering pace of growth since the 1950s has thrust it centre stage. Regulators and the public are not wrong in expecting the plastic industry to stand up to its responsibilities. Industry needs to respond by creating closed loops for much more of its output than now. This will be key to sustainable growth!

Ravi Raghavan

CHWKLY 30JAN18